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Interactive Fiction for iOS

Interactive fiction was the first great computer-game craze.
No graphics, no game controllers, no touchscreens — none of that
existed yet. You type a command, and the game tells you what happens
next.

These were the triple-A titles of the early 1980s: sophisticated,
complex, involving, literate gameplay. Of course, other
genres soon came along... but the text games never went away. An
Internet community of IF fans picked up where Infocom and the other
old companies left off. I'm one of them; I've been releasing indie IF
games since 1995.

Now I've started porting my games to the iPhone and iPad. I believe
that mobile platforms are the natural home of interactive fiction.
Phones and tablets are designed for reading — and IF
commands are tweet-sized.

All of my iOS apps are built on a common framework, which includes...

Fluid interface designed for comfortable typing and reading.

Pop-up palette of commonly used commands.

Full support for VoiceOver (speech output) and dictation (speech input)
on devices that offer these features.

Virtual game extras, such as maps or in-game documents,
where appropriate.

The IF Card

If the idea of interactive fiction is new or strange to you, take a look
at this quick reference card. It’s not a complete manual —
it’s just
a guide to what IF commands look like. Once you get used to the pattern,
it’s pretty easy to express what you want to do.

Hadean Lands, Shade, and Heliopause all for $4.99 flat.

An interactive alchemical interplanetary thriller.

Steer a ship to distant stars and see what you find, in this compact
science-fictional fairy tale.

“Myrmidal is the queen of the bright worlds, and you’ve
walked her million cities beneath her sky and beyond it. Myrmidal
laughs and Myrmidal dances; they say no one weeps on Myrmidal, except
for moments on the stage. But even on Myrmidal the sun rises and sets,
and the music grows tinny and harsh when you weary of dancing.”

“Like many of Andrew Plotkin’s games, Hoist Sail for
the Heliopause and Home is beautiful because so alien... The
game-play is extremely ingenious at teaching the player to manipulate
and appreciate something completely unrecognizable.”
—
Emily Short at PlayThisThing

The Dreamhold is my interactive fiction tutorial game. It’s
designed for people who have never played IF before. It introduces the
common commands and mindset of text adventures, one step at a time.
There’s an extensive help system describing standard IF commands,
as well as dynamic hints which pop up whenever you seem to be stuck.

Of course, you can turn off the hints and the tutorials, and play
The Dreamhold as a real game. The puzzles are not extremely
difficult, but they should offer some challenge to both experienced
players and newcomers. (If the challenge is insufficient, there’s an
“expert” mode which makes some of the puzzles harder.)
There are also many optional bits to explore beyond the main
storyline.

I’ve tried to create a game which rewards many species of adventurer:
the inexperienced newcomer, the puzzle-hurdler, the casual tourist,
the meticulous explorer, the wild experimenter, the seeker after
nuances and implications.

Winner of the
XYZZY Awards
for Best Puzzles and Best Use of Medium of 2004

Includes dynamic in-game map, so you don’t have to scribble boxes
on a piece of paper